TARGET 150722

HOW MANY WORKERS DOES IT TAKE
TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB?

One. One very, very brave one.



And one who is in very good physical shape, as well.

Imagine climbing a ladder to the roof of your house to replace a bulb in some Christmas decoration. That’s usually a climb of about 15 feet on a ladder that is inclined for easier climbing.

When Climber Kevin Schmidt, of South Dakota, needs to replace a light bulb, he climbs a ladder 100 times taller than that rooftop climb, and the ladder is completely vertical. This stunning footage captured by Prairie Aerial shows Kevin Schmidt climbing the ladder up this 1,500 foot (457 meters) tower to change a lightbulb.



Schmidt, a project manager at Sioux Falls Tower and Communications, climbs the now inactive KDLT-TV antenna in Salem. The station does not use the antenna now, but there still needs to be a light atop the tower so that airplanes in the area at night will know there is a tower there.

   

He makes his ascent precisely and steadily, clipping his safety gear to the tower as he goes. If he were to slip and fall, that one safety clip and wire would be all that would keep him from plummeting to the ground, below. Some of the towers have cables running up the tower for automatic fall-preventing safety gear, but not all. Needless to say, he keeps his gear in top shape at all times. When there is no full-length safety cable, With every few steps of the ladder, he has to reach down to unclip his safety line from the previous place and raise up to re-clip it in a new place. During that time, his safety method is to hang on tight to the ladder.

The new light bulb he is taking to the top is not one like you would have in your home. It is large and, being made of much thicker glass, is actually surprisingly heavy. It fits very snuggly into the pack you see on his side in the picture above.



Once up there, he needs to remove the light fixture’s protective casing, take out the old bulb and hold on to it while he takes the new bulb out of his pack and inserts it into the fixture, put the old bulb into the pack, clean the casing of anything that might make the light dimmer, replace the casing, and then he's free to simply hang out and enjoy the scenery..... before climbing down a 1,500 foot ladder, stopping every few rungs to reach up to his safety line clip and move it to a new place below him.



Schmidt, pictured here with his wife, Alla, routinely climbs ridiculously tall towers to do maintenance work. So, how many light bulbs can a workmen change in a day? For Kevin - Ideally, one. That is, unless he gets home and Alla needs a bulb changed at the house.

The following video (4 minutes) of Kevin replacing a relay at 200 meters (650 feet), provides you with even more detailed feedback of Kevin’s many duties while on the towers.

NOTE: You may want to adjust the volume before playing the video, depending on the volume you normally use.

FEEDBACK MAP



If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, more information,
pictures and videos can be found at the following web sites:

Sioux Falls Tower & Communications Facebook page

Click here to apply for a job with them.

Many thanks to Ray McClure for this target.